may be a stupid question but stick with me!

OK so look i want to paint a ion frame. But heres the thing, i dint want to make a meth lab(anodizing station), or send it away to some average smoe who's gonna charge me a good chunk of change. I thought about the old fashioned spray paint method, but i hate chipping, it looks like..well you know. I know you can throw on a clear coat, but i wasn't sure if how well that works and the frame has sticky marks all over it, where stickers were before i bought it or something i guess.

So heres my question/plan. I was going to throw the damn thing in a bath of some sort of acid maybe ammonia for a few hour, take the thing out through it in some water for a few hours, then i was going to through on a few coats of spray paint 2-3, then put on 2 coats of clear coat.

is there any possibility of chipping or something going horribly wrong during this adventure?

it shouldnt chip, but it will look like ****, o wait never mind it all ready does, its an ion

and just because its an ion dosnt make it ****.
btw if u do it right it can look realy nice. sand the frame then prime it then use alot of thin coats and if u want to make it harder u can bake it in the oven.

i have painted many ion framse and had no chipping...if you do everything right...prepping, priming...dry time and do more light coats instead of a few heavy coats...then do some good clear you shouldnt have a problem...if it doesnt take you about a full day to do it (or longer) than your going too fast and its gonna suck...also dont go paintballing like the next day...wait a week or two and let the paint get good and hard

I have done several Ion frames and they are actually pretty easy. You want to let it soak in acetone over night and then use a wire brush or wheel and take off the powder coat. Then you sand it down and apply several coats of a self-etching primer. Then put on your paint of choice( I recommend a high quality automotive paint). And last you want to apply a good clear coat.

Chipping is due to poor paint. Good paint will be as tough or even tougher than anodizing.

There's some great advice in M2Ksupra's and Smartparts5990's posts. Those are the ways to do it right.

But if you cheap out and try this with spray bombs then it'll chip and look shoddy in no time unless you care for it fanatically. Sure it'll look good for a while if you care for it but if the base and clear are of a sort that is soft by nature then it'll scuff and scratch easily. Now way around that.

The deal is that by the time you do it right it'll easily cost you more in materials all around than sending it out for anodizing. And you'll need to spray it with a gun of some sort and that costs as well.

__________________
I just thought I'd take a quick peek and then the world went all yellow.....

Paint from a spray can seems to chip easier, try and invest in a cheap but decent auto spray gun and check your local napa for some automotive paint, get the degreaser, primer, base coat and your clear. It'll chip as easy as paint off your newly painted car..not so easy

actually even can paint won't chip if you make sure you bake it in between THIN coats. when you get thick coats that air dry it doesn't stick very well and looks like crap in the end. I painted my friends cell phone a satin black (and sanded it down so it was perfectly smooth, with no designs and such) then I would bake it in my little toaster oven (perfect for the project since it's small and low temp) came out great and he's never had a problem with it chipping.

__________________
"Originally posted by texastornado: ...i was playin with my buddy once and he told me he couldn't cock his acs which had come uncocked. It turns out his arm had fallen off..."